Real Estate Development as an Economic Driver

Real estate development is regarded as an economic driver in any economy. In this piece, Debo Adejana – one of the foremost real estate experts in Nigeria explains how real estate development can improve the economy of any country

Anywhere in the world, the business of real estate development is taken seriously; it’s painstaking, tasking, albeit it is lucrative and rewarding at the end.

It is normal and legitimate as every valuable achievement comes with a price, lots of guts, sheer determination, passion, consistency and the never-give-up-spirit.

This is what separates goal getters from goal quitters as far as success is concerned.

Derivative
For the economy, real estate is the economic driver in the sense that everything starts with real estate in the real sense of it. Have you thought of it?

What is it that has to do with human existence that does not have it’s root in real estate?

I know Maslow told us there are 3(three) basic needs of man; food, clothing and shelter, but a very careful examination of the 3(three) will show you that they are all derivatives of real estate.

There can be no food without the ground on which crops are planted, no clothing without cotton or other materials from which cloths are made and of course shelter is a more direct derivative of real estate.

Invariably, if people must crave for the 3(three) basic things among and above every other need, it also means that they will be fueling the demand for real estate in one area or the other thereby directly laying credence to my argument in this article that real estate is the economic driver .

The truth is there are various aspects of real estate that people sometimes do not even consider to be real estate, take the issue of crude oil for example; while the crude itself may not look like it is real estate, that it is a clear derivative of real estate should not be in doubt given that it is either explored from the sea (which is a piece of real estate that can be claimed by a country, clan or ethnicity) or ground(land) (another piece of real estate).

The sea or land belongs to the country and people where it falls within. In the case of Nigeria, the people of Niger-Delta continue to justifiably demand for more control or benefits because the larger percentage of the crude explored in Nigeria which happens to be the major thing our economy depends on comes from their land.

Job Creation & Stability
Also, real estate especially in the area of construction can be a major stabilizer of an economy. Countries and governments all over the world know that reasonably sized construction activities have huge positive effect on job creation which in turn dovetails into security, peace and tranquility in a society.

Nigeria as a nation was largely peaceful in the early 1970’s even after the civil war with the attendant negative effects of proliferation of arms that usually goes with such occurrences because the Government of the day but at Federal and Regional/State levels engaged in massive construction activities and kept hands that could have been idle fully engaged.

That was when Festac, National Stadium, National Theatre, Eko Bridge and other iconic edifices were constructed. The nation succeeded in keeping hundreds of thousands of hands that would have been idle very busy and unable to think of or have time for nefarious activities.

The Major Economic Driver of the Credit System
I have been told that a good and working credit system is the wheel of a good economy, the ability to take from the surplus side and give to the deficit side of the economy goes a long way in ensuring that business activities continue to grow in a healthy manner. One major sector of the economy that has helped that to continue more meaningfully is the real estate sector.

Properties are the most widely accepted and acceptable form of security/collateral for credit anywhere in the world. In fact, mortgage loans (credits given to house buyers using the house they are buying as collateral) is the economic driver of most advanced economy enabling ordinary people have access to funds to do other things once they can provide a house as security.

Though the economic recession is still very much around, albeit I will urge us all to relax and be at peace, it is just a passing phase. Sooner than later we will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Debo Adejana

MD/CEO, Realty Point Limited